Episode 190: Challenge #9 – Take Someone

to Lunch

We create. Everyday we create connection, chaos, possibility, drama, conversation, expectations, money, homes, relationships, works of art, friction, love, stories, or we don’t… Our power lies in our ability to direct our life story with every choice  and every thought. Welcome to the Love Your Story podcast and the 21 Life Connection Challenges - 21 life hacks that have been set up to help you connect, take care of your fabulous self, create possibility in your one and only life, and get out of the dol drums or disconnect that’s been lingering around.  This series of podcasts highlight the challenges one-by-one, give you background on why the challenge was included in the 21 chosen challenges in the first place, provides a deeper understanding of the concept itself, and shares ideas on how to implement it. These simple challenges create big ah-ha’s and leave you with some great new tools to play with. Today we focus on Challenge 9. Take someone to lunch. Stay tuned for yummy talk.   When goldilocks carefully turned the door nob on the cottage of the three bears, she was just looking for a little food. Too hot? Too cold? Just right? If you’ve spent much time alone, you know a meal isn’t just right unless you’re sharing it with good company. And, if there’s one thing we all understand, it’s the power of a good meal. Mix the two - good company and good food, and it’s magic. My friends and I call it Breaking Bread Together. One year I did a cleanse. The premise was no food, but all the water (and a few mix-ins) that you wanted. What I noticed from the experience is that we humans spend A LOT of time focused on food. When we don’t have to eat, we get a lot more time to do other things- no lunch breaks or dinner hour, no grocery shopping, no meal planning, and interestingly, much less socializing. Suddenly I had an extra 4 hours in the day. A lot of our lives are spent connecting over food.   Welcome to Challenge #9 of the 21 Life Connection Challenges. Hopefully you’ve already tested 8 of the life hacks and you’ve already had some interesting experiences and some ah-ha moments. How do I know you’ve had some good stuff happen? Because everyone who does the challenges whole heartedly does. Yes, everyone.  Keep up the good work! You’re one of the doers in this world. Challenge #9, Take Someone to Lunch, is based on a three tier idea.  First, we need human connection and eating with friends or people we want to get to know is a casual and fun way to connect. And, you could even take it further. What if you invited the “other” to lunch? Someone with different political ideas, a different religion, a culture you didn’t understand, but could get a peak into over a beautiful lunch? Right now, in our current world of division, this angle creates a possibility of increased understanding and insight. Second, treating someone is an act of generosity that creates warmth and kindness in the world. Good Karma. By small and simple things are unexpected ripples started, and this act of generosity is one of the those stones thrown into a pond. Third, we all love good food. Celebrate a delicious moment in your day and make an affair of it. Being present with good food is one of life’s treasures. During Covid and the contemplation of the loss of taste and smell it really brought home the tragedy of no longer enjoying the delight of good food. When I did the interview with one of the first COVID patients in episode _______ and he shared how difficult eating was because he couldn’t taste or smell it, how it changed the nature of eating for him, I realized how tragic such a loss would be. Good food. Connection. Enjoying the little things and making them a celebration. This is what we are about today. Laurie Colwin said, “One of the delights of life is eating with friends; second to that is talking about eating. And, for an unsurpassed double whammy, there is talking about eating while you are eating with friends.” How to do this challenge -  Choose someone you don’t usually take to lunch. Maybe it’s someone you’ve been wanting to get to know, or someone you need to connect with in your sphere of influence. What if it’s someone you love and haven't spent time with lately, or a neighbor you want to connect with. What if it’s someone you’ve noticed doesn’t have a lot of friends and could use some social time. Or perhaps the “other” a person different from you where you could expand your understanding by hearing from them - someone with a different political view or ideology. It never hurts to listen and gain understanding. What if it’s a lunch date with your child? Ok now, make plans to take them to lunch. Make sure they know it’s your treat. That being said, if eating out is not your bag, there’s nothing that says you can’t cook and stay in.  The first time I did this challenge I invited a colleague from the university over for soup and salad in my warm and homey kitchen. We sat, ate, chatted, caught up on a couple years of academic thought and gossip, and in the end those couple of hours were a brilliant investment in the friendship, in my network, in life. As with all the challenges. Enjoy the journey. Relish the preparation. Extend an official invite. Make it special this time around. We need more special moments, more good food, more time with good company, and an intent to connect deserves a special touch. What does a special touch look like? A written invitation? A heart-felt verbal invitation telling them you want to spend special time with them? A special place setting at a home table? Fine china? Someone’s favorite restaurant? Attention to detail? You decide… even small touches make the moment stand out.  Today you get to create a connection of your own, or set a date with someone to do so. And don’t forget to come back to your book and record how the whole thing went down.  Too hot? Too cold? Or Just Right? I’m betting on the latter.  Thanks for being here for a Love Your Story podcast. Go to www.loveyourstorypodcast.com for more great episodes, for links to buy your own copy of the book, and for links to sign up your group to do the challenges together - MASSIVE CONNECTION. See you in 2 weeks for the next episode of the Love Your Story podcast.